It is known to make artificial plants and flowers using a plurality of construction materials such as plastics, silk, paper, fabric or the like. In plants the components generally are of the same material since most plants are green and have similar color stems and leaf sections. Artificial flowers, on the other hand, usually have plastic stems which are often colored green and petal sections which can be several colors such as white, red, yellow, etc. These petal sections generally are separate foils or silk colored and shaped sheets that are attached together to simulate a natural flower. The resulting flowers are used as are natural flowers to fit into vases, to decorate centerpieces, to decorate cars or floats and the like. There are various structures of artificial flowers that have been used and known in the prior art. Some of these are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,088,295; 3,574,901; 4,835,024; 5,120,583 and 5,281,452. In 3,088,295 (Haines), a structure is described where a rivet is inserted through a hole in a leaf or petal to form a flower. The fastening element used in Haines is a male element of a snap fastener. This type prior art device has limited use such as clothing where snap fasteners are used. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,901 (Nogue) a fastener for flower ornaments is disclosed where the ornaments are attached to bathing caps or the like. This prior art reference teaches slipping the petals of a flower over the stem until the flower arrangement is accomplished. Each petal is slipped over the tapered top of Nogue's device. The bottom of Nogue's structure is a disc-shaped flange which would fit into a cavity of the device to be decorated. Nogue's device as is Hanies' device must be used as a structure with a corresponding mating element, i.e. Haines with a female snap fastneet and Nogue with a cavity into which the disc-shaped flange is positioned. Without these mating elements on the item to be decorated, these prior art flower structures cannot be used. In Hallay, U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,024, a flower structure with a metallic base is disclosed. The metallic base of Hallay is made from a flexible magnetic sheet material which generally causes a suction to develop as the base is removed from the decorated item. To reduce or eliminate any suction between the base and the magnetizable surface of the decorated article an aperture must be located in the base of the flower. Also, Hallay uses a projection member 24 and a sleeve 30 that fits over the projection member to form a fastener for the ornamental flower. The projection member 24 has an end 34 which is fitted and melted over the sleeve 30 to retain all elements in position. This melting step is somewhat complex once the petals are in position and represents a vulnerable step in the production of flowers of this type. In lieu of melting, an adhesive may be used to hold sleeve 30 and projection member 24-34 together. Again, this represents a somewhat tedious procedure step in the manufacturing process. A more simplified, more efficient procedure to lock all of the components of a flower ornament together would be highly desirable.
In Garcia, U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,583, a composite flower assembly is disclosed having a preserved natural flower head securely fastened atop an artificial calyx. An eyelet 57 and ball of thread 58 are received within a hollow tubular coupling member 61 and glued to an artificial calyx 66. A glob of glue 69 is used to lock all components together as described and illustrated by Garcia. Again, the use of glue, melt and/or calyx to attach components together can be complex, of limited effectiveness and time consuming. A mechanical locking means that effectively secures all member components easily and inexpensively would be very desirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,452 (Cheng) discloses an artificial flower made from a stack of juxtaposed petal members having radially-extending petals. The petals are then connected together by a common string or rope or by being wrapped together by tape or stapled together with a common staple. The assembly process of Cheng requires tiling, pasting or stapling each petal to the other to form the composite structure. This can be a cumbersome and time-consuming manufacturing process.
In all of the above-discussed prior art, there is no artificial flower structure having a simple locking means that fixes all flower components easily and effectively. Also, there is no structure in the prior art where the main flower components are all non-magnetic and wherein a separate magnet is easily attached thereto. In a flexible magnetized base portion, the problem of suction must be dealt with whereas in the present invention no such drawback is encountered.
While many of these artificial flowers can be used to decorate cars and floats, most require the use of adhesives or tapes in order to attach the flowers to the structure to be decorated. Once the parade or wedding is over with, these flowers are removed and generally discarded since they are damaged when removed from the car or float surface. Also, the car surface requires cleaning to remove the adhesive or tape used to attach the flower. In addition to a time-consuming taping or gluing of the flower to the car, the disposing of the flowers used can become relatively expensive since artificial flowers are generally not inexpensive. Thus, there is a need for a simple attachment manner of connecting flowers to floats, cars, etc. while providing flowers that can be reused over and over with the same or similar decorative appearance.